Friday, April 15, 2016

4:17 PM

Former GOP state Sen. Dan Kanpanke, of LaCrosse, filed with the GAB this week to challenge Dem Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling for his old Senate seat.

Kapanke declined comment this week when contacted by WisPolitics.com, saying he would likely have an announcement later.

Shilling knocked off Kapanke with 55.4 percent of the vote in a 2011 recall election sparked by the the Republican's support of Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining changes for public employees.

Kapanke, owner the college summer league baseball team the LaCrosse Loggers, first won the La Crosse-area seat in 2004 and was re-elected in 2008 with 51.4 percent of the vote even as Barack Obama won Wisconsin statewide by almost 14 percentage points. He later lost a 2010 bid for Congress against U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-LaCrosse.

Shilling, meanwhile, was re-elected in 2012 with 58.3 percent of the vote.

Candidates for state office could begin circulating nomination papers today. They are due back to the GAB June 1.